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A translation of President Ikeda’s “To My Friends” published in the Seikyo Shimbun and more.

Friday, Oct 31st, 2014— TO MY FRIENDS —In a season with dry air, like now,let’s take every possible precaution to prevent fires!

Let’s never be careless about basic safety checkssuch as checking heaters before using them

for the first time in the season,and making sure outlets are not covered in dust, etc..

Friday, Oct 31st, 2014— DAILY GOSHO —“The heart of the Buddha’s lifetime of teachings is the Lotus Sutra, and the heart of the practice of the Lotus Sutra is found in the ‘Never Disparaging’ chapter. What does Bodhisattva Never Disparaging’s profound respect for people signify? The purpose of the appearance in this world of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, lies in his behavior as a human being.”

“There are countless people in the world whose hearts have been wounded in some way. We need to extend a healing hand to such individuals. Through such efforts, we in fact heal ourselves.

“When beset by some misfortune, people tend to think that no one could possibly be as unhappy or unlucky as they are. They feel sorry for themselves and become blind to everything but their own situation. They wallow in their suffering, feeling dissatisfied and hopeless, which only saps their life force further.

“At such times, what gives someone the strength to go on living? It seems to me that it is human bonds—the desire to live for the sake of others. As long as we are wrapped up in ourselves, there is no happiness. When we courageously take action for others, the wellspring of our own life is replenished.

“When we look after and care for others—that is, help others draw forth their life force—our own life force increases. When we help people expand their state of life, our state of life also expands. That is the wonderful thing about the bodhisattva way. The practice for benefiting others is one and the same with the practice for benefiting ourselves.

“To only speak of benefiting others leads to arrogance. It conveys a sense of self righteousness, as if we are somehow doing others a favour by “saving” them. Only when we recognise that our efforts on others behalf are also for our own sake will we be filled with humble appreciation for being able to develop our lives.

“Our lives and the lives of others are ultimately inseparable. It is vital, therefore, that we follow the bodhisattva way.”

SGI Newsletter No. 9112, The Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace, Part 1: Happiness, Chap. 5: Happiness for Both Ourselves and Others, from the October 2014 issue of the Daibyakurenge, translation released 27th Oct., 2014

* The Japanese kanji is available by clicking on Seikyo Shinbun’sweb-site address at http://www.seikyoonline.jp/news/index.html